Facilities and Technical Equipment on the City Side of an Airport
Published: Thursday, 28 October 2021 11:13
This was the subject of the presentation of the virtual session of AERIAL Tuesdays of October 26, 2021 in Yaoundé, entitled «Airport systems: technical equipment and installations on the city side».
The presenter zoomed in on the city side (Area of an airport or terminal on which the public has free access, according to the National Civil Aviation Security Program of Cameroon (PNSAC)) in its traditional and improved form, highlighting the CCAA’s vision for the Yaoundé Nsimalen International airport platform. And given the context of the pandemic, it was also an opportunity to promote the new habits that are required in the implementation of preventive measures or barrier measures in the airport terminals.
Thus, on the basic city side of the airport one finds: access and transport routes to the airport, by road, by rail or by bicycle tracks, which lead to stations, parks which could be paid or unpaid car parks, and whose access is controlled for security reasons.
More recently, for the safety of passengers and users, the CCAA has equipped itself with an Airport Security Unit within the framework of the implementation of the provisions of Presidential Decree N°2018/006 of January 8, 2018 approving and enforcing the PNSAC. And the CCAA has deployed the Agents of the said Security Unit at the level of the Road Inspection Filtering Access Parks (PARIF) and lifting barriers in the Douala and Yaoundé Nsimalen international airports.
Also, there is public lighting, vertical and horizontal signage on the roads that serve the airport on the city side, as well as a terminal building that takes into account the principles of ergonomics in the layout of the various facilities, which are, among others, commercial spaces (managed in Cameroon by the Cameroon Airport Company-ADC, in the airports they operate), banks, counters, check-in kiosks, escalators, conveyor belts etc.
Furthermore, hotels, tourist centres, sports complexes, schools and shopping centres are all infrastructures and facilities that add to the airport's aesthetics and make up the installations and equipment found on the improved part of the city side. But above all, in addition to the aesthetic aspect, these facilities have a strong economic potential and contribute to boosting the non-aeronautical income generated by the airport. The AERIAL Tuesday presenter made known that most of these facilities on this part of the airport have been integrated into CCAA's vision for Yaounde-Nsimalen Airport, through the construction of an aviation complex, the construction of a CCAA Training School, an Air Search and Rescue Centre and an Aerocity on this airport area, along the highway currently under construction.
It is important to note that projects of this scale are capable of boosting a city's economic growth. And with their realisation in the coming years, Yaoundé will be able to count itself among the aerotropolises in the world, i.e. a metropolitan region whose infrastructure, land use and economy are centred on an airport. Such is the case today with the likes of Incheon airport in South Korea, Changi airport in Singapore and Paris CDG airport in France.
Furthermore, in order to face the COVID 19 pandemic and to give passengers and users assurance in our airports, the presenter of AERIAL Tuesday reminded the audience of the new atmosphere that now reigns in the terminals (city side) of Douala and Yaoundé Nsimalen international airports. The compulsory wearing of masks, the availability of disinfectant dispensers, the taking of temperature, messages and signs reminding of the barrier measures; the markings on the ground for distancing, the presence of protective screens between staff and passengers, the availability of agents for verification of covid 19 test results etc... is part of the atmosphere that now prevails in our airports within the framework of the implementation of the barrier measures in the fight against the COVID 19 pandemic.
It should be noted that ICAO regulations, normative frameworks and annexes are taken into account during the implementation of activities in this area of the airport.
Arguably, in addition to its instructive nature, this virtual session of AERIEN Tuesday had the potential to generate more support and mobilisation around the projects for the construction of an aviation complex and an Aerocity at Yaoundé Nsimalen International Airport.